Railroad-tie.



B. LANZA.

RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.29. 1918. i 1,295,771 Patented Feb.25,191 9.

M v A Wm m u TED TES TEN OF IC i k a BENJAMI LAnza, or PHILADELPHIA, rEN sYLv ivIA. H

T 0 all whom it may concern,

Be it known that I, BENJAMiNLANzA, citizen of the United States of America, residing at 1323 'S. 9th street, Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Ties, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to rails and rail ties, and has for an object to provide a rail tie for effectively securing a rail against any undue or accidental movement, and at the same time permit-ting of an adjustment of the rail.

The invention comprehends among other features, the provision of a rail tie in which the holding parts can be easily removed for the purpose of repair, or in which the spacing of a pair of rails can be readily accomplished, and the adjustment of the rails as to the distance between them, varied to the proper degree.

In the further disclosure of the invention, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, constituting a part of this specificttion, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical cross section through a rail, showing my invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view with parts broken away to disclose the under-lying structure.

Referring more particularly to the views, the numeral 10 indicates a rail and the numeral 11 a tie, which in this instance is shown to be hollow and has its top 12 provided with a series of longitudinal slots 13, which are in the nature of bayonet slots, having enlarged portions 14. The rail 10 traverses the tie 11, and disposed upon the top of the tie are opposed holding plates 15, which bear against the web 16 and base 17 of the rail on opposed sides. Bolts 18 pass through the plates 15 with the heads 19 of the bolts disposed in the slots 13, it being readily seen that the bolts 18 are initially arranged so that the heads 19 will pass throughthe enlarged portions 14, the plates 15 thus being slid toward the rail so that the bolts will pass through the narrow 'po-rtions of the slots, thus preventing removal of the bolts at these points. In order to secure each plate rigidly in position, there is provided on each side of the rail a supple- 'mentary plate 20, which I may term the R ILROAD-TIE.

Specification of Letters l atent. Application filed April 29, 1918. Serial No. 231,439.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

adjusting plate, and which also has bolts 21 passing therethrough, said bolts 21 having enlarged heads 22 which may vbe received in the enlargcd portions 14 of the slots, and then by moving the plate 20 away from-the rail the bolts 21 will be received inthe smaller portions of the slots, so asto pre vent the removal thereof.

A screw 23 is provided for each plate 20, and passes horizontally through the center thereof, said screw having suitable lock nuts 24, one on each side of the plate 20. When the screw is screwed up, the inner end will abut against the edge of the plate 15 and thus push the plate tightly against the rail,

after which the nuts of the bolts 18 are tightened, if desired, to hold the plate 15 rigid; The lock nuts 24 are then screwed up toward the plate 20 to lock the screw 23 against further movement and the nuts of the bolts 21 can also be tightened.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the adjusting plate or the plate 15, one of which is provided on each side of the rail, can'be readily removed by sliding the plates toward the enlarged portions of the slots, so that the heads of the bolts of the plates can readily pass through the enlarged portions of the slots, thus permitting the removal of the plates from the tie at V will- In this manner parts can be easily removed for the purpose of repair, and it will of course be clear that should the rail 10 be shifted on the tie to increase the distance between it and its opposed companion rail, such adjustment can be made by means of the device described.

It will of course be understood that any convenient form of tie may be employed in connection with my device as to size, reinforcement and the like, although in this instance I show in the drawings a vertically disposed longitudinally extending rib, it

being of course understood, as mentioned heretofore, that the tie can also be made without the reinforcing rib, or in any other suitable manner to provide the necessary strength.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination with a tie provided with longitudinal slots, and having the rail mounted to extend transversely thereon, of a plate adapted to bear again'stthe web and base of the rail and means to hold the plate rigidly against the web and base of the slidable in said slots adjusting plates,b'ol t s in said adjustingplate andslidablein said rail, including bolts through said plate and slots, and an adjusting screw passing centrally through each of the adjusting'plates with the, inner end of said screw adapted to bear against the first mentioned plate.

2. In a device of the characterdescribed, the combination with a tie provided with longitudinal slots and having the rail mounted to extend transversely thereon, of a plate adapted to bear against the web and base of the rail and means to hold the first mentioned plates rigidly against the web Copies of this, patent. may be; obtained. for flxre cents each,gby addressing-the Commissioner, 0!, Patents,;

and base of the rail, including bolts through said plates and slidable in said slots, adjusting "plates; boltsinsaid'adjusting plates and slidable in said slots, an adjusting screw screw rigid'relative to. the adjusting? plates;

In testimony whereof I afiix my slgnature.

BENJAMIN LANZA.

washgngton, D; 0. 

